Abstract

The article describes the idea of youth social work (Jugendsozialarbeit), which was started in 19th century in Germany. Firstly, it provides an overview of historical orgins of youth education, which emphasise elimination of social pathologies and professional training. The link between various activities and religious education is illustrated by quotations from the pioneers of youth social work: Johann G. Breuer and Adolph Kolping. This unity determines the pedagogic character of
education process as a whole. Summing up the first period of youth social work development, it is possible to point out its two distinctive features: (1) sensitivity to the youth social needs with the attention paid to professional training and (2) morality-based education. On the basis of the above-mentioned, the following section presents theories of dealing with difficult teenagers, especially those developed in the 20th century. This leads to a conclusion that the activities taken as a part of youth social work are often a response to the needs of young generation. The third section gives an insight into the activity of Regional Centre “Don Bosco” in Regensburg in Germany. This is a centre, where education is carried out according to rules of youth social work. The last issue in the article is contemporary crisis of youth social work identity. The author suggests that one of the reasons for the situation is less stress on axiological and religious aspects, which determine pedagogic character of youth social work.